Photo Courtesy of Texas Parks & Wildlife Department
Rene R. Barrientos, a retired San Antonio lawyer and La Salle County rancher, committed $1 million to Texas A&M University-Kingsville's Caesar Kleberg Wildlife Research Institute. The funds will help defray the cost of students' tuition, fees and books. Students must be master's or doctoral students in the institute to be eligible.

CORPUS CHRISTI - The future of wildlife conservation and the graduate students studying it at Texas A&M University-Kingsville got a $1 million boost thanks to a La Salle County rancher.

Rene R. Barrientos recently committed $1 million during the next 10 years to the university's Caesar Kleberg Wildlife Research Institute, exclusively aimed at funding master's degree and doctoral students through the program.

Barrientos, a retired San Antonio lawyer and rancher near Cotulla, said he recognizes the Kingsville program's uniqueness and benefit to the area and state.

That's why he chose to give the gift of $100,000 each year for the next 10 years to the school, he said. He added that the Kingsville program is the premier wildlife research institute in the country.

"They are the cutting edge on research in wildlife," he said.

Many Texas Parks & Wildlife Department biologists have been trained at the institute, university officials said.

Barrientos, 57, who didn't attend A&M-Kingsville, said the institute and the studies can help make the land and wildlife better, he said, adding he felt it necessary to help the program.

"It's part of the preservation," Barrientos said.

Plus, he said, it can help the Kingsville graduate students fund their way through school.

Institute Executive Director Fred C. Bryant said the funds will help defray the cost of tuition, fees and books. Students must be master's or doctoral students in the institute to be eligible.

Students are expected to start receiving funds as soon as this spring, Bryant said.

He estimated that Barrientos' gift can help between 40 to 50 students each semester during the 10-year period. The program currently has 50 students.

"It's such a remarkable gift," Bryant said. "His only goal is to help students be successful."

Institute doctoral student Suzanne Contreras, 36, who plans to graduate with a Ph.D. in wildlife science this year, said the gift can help ease financial strains typically tied to a graduate degree, such as student loans.

"It's really going to help me focus on my research and completing my degree," she said.

Bryant and Barrientos said the gift also may help encourage future students to attend the institute to study wildlife conservation and be a part of a program that impacts the state.